Planetes Episode 25: What Is This Series Doing to Me?

 After episode 24, I had no idea what was going to happen in episode 25 of Planetes. Before you read on, this contains spoilers.

Tanabe and Claire were out in the middle of nowhere on the moon, running out of oxygen. Hachimaki was about to shoot Hakim. The terrorist situation was resolved, and the Von Braun was saved. But this episode started 6 months after those events. Hachi is experiencing some pretty serious psychological issues, but we don't know what happened. And what about Tanabe? Nothing about her at all.

Bit by bit, we learned what happened to each of the main characters, starting with everyone but the four I mentioned above. Though we know Hachimaki was selected to go to Jupiter. Slowly, we learned what happened between Hachimaki and Hakim, but we still don't know Hakim's fate. But as this episode continued, I had no idea what had happened with Tanabe. We discover she's alive, but she had quit Technora and returned to Earth. Throughout all of this, Hachimaki is extremely out of it. He's fighting his inner demons, but in a near death situation, he realises that he no longer needs to be alone. And who does he meet? Tanabe. She's been injured due to oxygen deprivation, but should make a full recovery. We also learn that Claire survived, but is in better shape. It's at this time, Hachi is back to his old self.

This episode was an emotional rollercoaster. I was constantly worried that Tanabe had died. The final scene was quite emotional between Hachi and Tanabe. I was hesitant to start watching this episode, but I am now relieved that I did. What an excellent story Planetes is turning out to be. But now I'm looking forward to episode 26. I need to know the conclusion.